YuGiOh: The Dark Ones
by Illusionsabre
Summary: A man named Sleishen has invited duelists from all over the world to participate in a Duel Monsters Tournament. Yugi and friends decide to compete and are soon in loads of trouble. Evil spirits, Pasts revealed, and duels galore! Chapter 1 re-done!
1. Darkness Duel

Ch.1: Darkness Duel  
  
It was dark; Extremely dark and Yugi could barely see. He flung his hands around wildly trying find something to hold on to, but all his efforts were in vain. Then he had an idea.  
  
"Hmmm...I'll use the millennium puzzle to light up this abyss." Yugi said. He reached down to feel the millennium puzzle but it was no longer there.  
  
Suddenly, a deep and distorted voice rang out in the darkness, "If you needed a light, all you had to do was but to ask my pharaoh." The room immediately illuminated slightly. "Now you have your light." Yugi was about to ask the voice who it was and where it was coming from when the voice said, "Please, sit down my pharaoh. I will answer your questions in time."  
  
Yugi then studied the room. It was filled with ancient Egyptian artifacts, most of them made of gold. The walls of the room looked ancient and worn and they were all covered in hieroglyphics. In one corner of the room there was a small golden throne. Yugi did not see any other places to sit so he walked over to the throne and sat down.  
  
"Welcome, my pharaoh. I can see that you are worried about the Millennium Puzzle. Do not worry it will be returned to you shortly." Yugi did not trust this voice but he knew that at the moment it was more important to find out where he was. "You are in a place known as Babarus." the voice said.  
  
"You're reading my mind aren't you?" Yugi asked.  
  
"Yes pharaoh. I am."  
  
"Then you know what I'm going to ask next, correct?"  
  
"You want to know where Babarus is and who I am. Very well, I shall tell you. Babarus is an arcane library that used to house the Book of Ra and the Book of the Dead. You have heard of them?"  
  
"Of course."  
  
"I have watched over the books for thousands of years until just recently when they were stolen."  
  
"Thousands of years? You must be a spirit...Why would anyone want these two ancient books?"  
  
"The books contain secrets about the shadow realm that even I do not know. More importantly, they contain the ritual that can summon the reshef back to this plain."  
  
"Who is this reshef?"

"You do not remember?" Yugi shook his head. "The reshef is the being that you faced 5000 years ago. You defeated him. However, you were so badly injured that your priest, Simon, and your pharohess used their power to seal your spirit inside of the Millennium Puzzle."

"Speaking of the Millennium Puzzle..."  
  
"Oh yes, of course. I shall return it to you before you leave. But first I must ask you a favor my lord."  
  
"A favor? What is it?"  
  
" I need to duel you my lord."  
  
"A duel? Why?"  
  
"Before you were locked inside the Millennium Puzzle, you taught me all of your secrets, all of your strategies. You see, I must duel you to make sure that you are still as capable of a shadow duelist as you used to be."  
  
"I assure you, I am still quite skilled."  
  
"Of that I cannot be sure. Please, if you are not strong enough to defeat me, then you cannot defeat the reshef. And if you cannot defeat the reshef then the world is doomed."  
  
"You give me no choice. I accept your challenge."

"Thank you, my pharaoh. Please take out your...cards. And I shall transform my stone tablets into...cards as well. "

"Are you going to show yourself? It is awfully difficult to duel when I cannot see my opponent."

"Of course, my pharaoh. How rude of me." The light suddenly became a little brighter and Yugi could make out a form in the darkness. The form walked closer and is it came into the light it slowly became Tristan in strange, Egyptian garb.

"Tristan? Is...is that you?"

"Tris...tan? I'm afraid I do not know that name. I am Taknut. Why did you call me Tristan?"

"You look just like a very close friend of mine."

"Hmmm...Perhaps your friend is a reincarnation of me..."

"Maybe so."

"Now my pharaoh, we will duel upon this." Taknut held his hand over the floor in front of Yugi and the floor slowly rose creating a large stone table. "And now for the shadow realm." The room was quickly engulfed in an eerie, purple light.

"This is all too familiar. Please let us duel quickly. I would prefer not to stay in this dark hell."

"Yes pharaoh, please shuffle my cards and I shall shuffle yours." They handed each other their decks, shuffled the decks, and then returned them to their owners. "We shall each start with 4000 life points. First turn honors are yours, lord."

"I draw," Yugi drew and quickly looked over his hand. "I place two cards face-down and summon Obnoxious Celtic Guardian in defense mode." An elf-like monster appeared above Yugi's card. "It is your turn."  
  
"A strange opening play," said and drew his card and hand, "Excellent. Anubis has smiled upon me. I play the spell Mystical Space Typhoon and use it's magic to destroy one of your face-down cards." The left of Yugi's two trap cards become engulfed in white light and when the light faded the card was gone. "Then I will summon Luster Dragon (1900 atk) and attack your Celtic Guardian." A blue, glistening dragon arose from the card and made a mad dash towards the Celtic Guardian and then breathed massive amounts of blue flame at it. The Celtic Guardian however, jumped out of the way. "What? How was your Celtic Guardian saved? Did you use your trap card?"  
  
"Not exactly. Obnoxious Celtic Guardian has a special ability. He can't be destroyed by monsters with 1900 attack or more. So you wasted your attack."  
  
"Ah...now your starting strategy makes sense. Well done. Your move."  
  
"I am just getting started." Yugi drew his next card. "Now I sacrifice Obnoxious Celtic Guardian to bring forth the Summoned Skull(2500/1200). Summoned Skull, attack the Luster Dragon with fiend lightning!" A large winged fiend jumped out of Yugi's card and put it's huge claws in the air and drew energy to itself, then it unleashed all of it's fury on the Luster Dragon by attacking it with huge amounts of purple electricity. The Luster Dragon vanished into hundreds of shards.  
  
Yami: 4000 Taknut: 3400  
  
"It's only your second turn Taknut, and you are already down 600 life points. Do you still question my skill?"  
  
"Oh my pharaoh. It was never your skill that I believed was weak. It was your strength of mind that I questioned." Taknut drew a card, "Now my pharaoh, the real test begins. I summon the monster Joey Wheeler(1650/1300)!" Yugi gasped. Slowly a gray form appeared onto the field. It had strange blond hair and familiar brown eyes. It was definitely Joey. However, Joey was wearing strange golden armor and held a huge sword.  
  
"What? How...This can't be. How have you done this Taknut?"  
  
" I read your mind my lord. I had to know your biggest weakness. If you cannot overcome this weakness the reshef will exploit it and easily crush you."  
  
"You can make the cards look like my friends but I don't not fear forms in the shadows!"  
  
"I must apologize again my pharaoh. They are not just simple forms. They are the souls of your friends incarnate as monsters. If your friends are destroyed in this shadow game, their souls will forever be trapped in the shadow realm."  
  
"You are that desperate to test me? You would endanger innocent lives?"

"I am truly sor..."

Keep your apologies. Anyone who would endanger the innocent for any reason is evil in my eyes. How dare you do this." Yugi drew a card. "I will no attack my friends, but I swear to you, I will find a way to win. For now, I summon Alpha the Magnet Warrior in defense mode." A silver machine with a magnet for a head appeared on the field holding a sword defensively. "Your move." Taknut drew his card.  
  
"He must be a reincarnation of me...Now I summon Tristan Taylor(1100/2150) to the field." This time Tristan appeared on the field. He was in the form of a robot with cannons on both of his arms. "Your move."  
  
'This game can't go on any longer,' Yugi thought, 'What if he sacrifices my friends or attacks my monsters in attack mode on purpose to destroy them. Can't think about that. I must remain strong.'  
  
"This card will help. I summon Beta the Magnet Warrior in defense mode." A yellow robot appeared on Yami's field and it's arms crossed over it's body in order to fortify it's defense. "And I play Chorus of sanctuary. This field card increases all of my monsters defense by 500 points. I will end my turn by switching Summoned Skull to defense mode as well."  
  
"Little good that will do you in the long run, I'm afraid" Taknut drew another card, "I summon Tea Gardener(2100/0) to the field."  
  
"No!" A huge flash of light erupted from Taknut's card. Tea appeared their. Her hair was long and sleek. She had scales all over her body and two large wings on her back. Her tail swung around loosely in the air. On the end of the tail was a huge razor-sharp spike. She had spikes going up her back and her eyes glowed a nightmarishly evil red. "You monster. How could you?"  
  
"You cannot be weak pharaoh! You could have won this duel if you had but attacked! If you refuse to fight your friends will simply perish in vain. Strike my monsters or you will lose!"  
  
"Never. You will not win with these tactics. Prepare to lose!"  
  
"Oh pharaoh. I had hoped I was wrong. Go, it is your turn." Yugi drew a card.  
  
"Perfect. I summon Gamma the Magnet Warrior. And when Gamma is on the field with the other two magnet warriors, I can transform them into a much mightier beast. Now magnet warriors! Become Valkyrion, the Magna Warrior!" A purple machine with wings appeared on the field along side the other two magnet warriors. All three of them then split into pieces and reformed as a giant sword and shield-wielding machine (Valkyrion 3500/3850). At first Taknut looked worried when he saw this giant magnet warrior but his fears soon disappeared.   
  
"You refuse to attack. That monster no matter how powerful will be useless." Yami just smiled.  
  
"You are right about that, for now at least. But soon Valkyrion will destroy you and your life points. I swear it, Taknut."  
  
"Your empty threats will not frighten me." But Yugi knew Taknut was unsure because his voice wavered slightly when he spoke. "My next monster is Mai Valentine(0/ 2800)."  
  
"Ahh!"  
  
Mai appeared on the field. Her skin was pale and she was transparent like a ghost.  
  
"Well pharaoh, that's four of your friends in danger of losing their souls. If you had just attacked when only one was on the field you could have won by now. Instead, you will watch more of your friends suffer. I pity you. It is your turn now" Yami drew a card.   
  
"No, It is I who should pity you."

"What do you mean?"

"Soon, I will win this duel. And all of my friends will be fine."

"We shall see."

"I set monster face-down in defense mode. Your move." Taknut drew another card.

"I play one card face-down and summon Seto Kaiba to the field." Seto leapt from the card riding a small Blue eyes White Dragon. "I will win in two more turns pharaoh, I promise you. It is your move." Yugi drew a card and looked at it disgustingly.

"I pass. There is nothing I can do this turn."

"I also shall pass. Do want me to tell you why I am about to win pharaoh?"

"By all means."

"You see, my face-down card is called Ultimate Nightmare. It normally allows me to sacrifice as many monsters as I want to deal 500 damage directly to your life points. However, every turn it stays facedown It gets a counter and for every counter on this trap card, I can double the damage to your life points. So if I had activated it this turn I would have only dealt 2500 damage to you. Next turn I will instead deal 5000 damage to you, ending the game. So make your final move. It is truly sad to see you so weak."

"I am not weak as you will soon see."

"If you say so my lord. Your last move." Yugi drew his card and the frown on his face changed to a grin. "Hah. Here is my last turn. First off, I activate the spell card de-fusion to break apart my own Valkyrion." Valkyrion broke apart into its three separate parts.

"That's peculiar, how could that possibly help you?"

"Here's how. I now summon Mind Bender(1950/350)!" A magician appeared. He was headless.

"A headless beast? I am confused..."

"Let me clear it up for you. Mind Bender's special ability allows me to take control. To take control of one of your magic or trap cards!"

"What? No...that means..."

"Yes it does. I will use your card against you. I activate your Ultimate Nightmare and sacrifice all of my monsters which will deal 5000 damage to your life points wiping you out."

"I lost..."

"I thank you. If you had not told me what your trap did I would have lost the duel but instead I am the victor."

"You have won. Well done my pharaoh. Since you defeated me I will let you leave. But please lord, be cautious. Your friends could have lost you the duel."

"But they didn't. If anything they made me stronger."

"What do you mean?"

"My caring for my friends made my determination to win even stronger allowing me to beat you."

"Perhaps you are right. Please, take this with you. Hopefully it will help." Taknut handed Yugi the Ultimate Nightmare trap card. "Good bye my pharaoh. May Ra and Anubis watch over you."

"What? What are you...uuunnnggghhh." The room began to spin and suddenly Yugi's vision blurred and he plunged into darkness.

WARNING: I have edited this story a TON. All chapters after chapter one will not make sense. PLEASE do not read chapter two until it has been updated.


	2. Relief and Invitation

Chapter 2: Relief and Invitation  
  
"Wahhh!" Yugi yelled and sat up in bed, sweating heavily. He quickly looked around at his settings and found himself to be safe in his own bed. "That dream has to be a ten on my screwed-up dream-o-meter." Yugi sank back down to his pillow as Yami's translucent form appeared on the bedside next to him.  
  
"Are you all right Yugi? You look like you've seen a ghost."  
  
"Well Yami, I guess in a way, I have..." Yugi quickly told Yami everything about the dream. "Well? What do you think?"  
  
"Very interesting Yugi. The fact that this all happened in Babarus makes me very interested."  
  
"Babarus...I've heard of that place. We studied it in school when we were working on ancient Egyptian History. But my teacher said that Babarus was a myth."  
  
"There are still many things I don't remember about my past Yugi. Babarus however, I remember quite well."  
  
"Ohh..."  
  
"Yes, soon after I sealed the magic of the shadow realm away, a group of nomadic warriors appeared. They called themselves the Ochayithistes, which in Egyptian means 'Those who eat souls.' The Soul Eaters as they soon began to be called, were led by the most dangerous of ancient magicians. I cannot recall his name right now but I know his power was great. He and his Soul Eaters used the Shadow Monsters to destroy many cities in Egypt. After they had amassed many powerful monsters, they attack Thebes, my home city. It was only with the use of the ancient Book of Ra and Book of the Dead and five magical shadow tablets that I was able to summon a monster powerful enough to destroy them...."  
  
"Exodia." Yugi Interupted.  
  
"Exactly right Yugi, Exodia. He destroyed all of the soul eaters but one. After that battle I decide that the two books and Exodia should be sealed away. They were sealed away in Babarus, along with that last Soul Eater."  
  
"The guardian! The man I dueled in my dream."   
  
"Doubtful Yugi."  
  
"What? Why?"  
  
"That man had his eyes and tongue removed before he was locked away."  
  
"Yami that's terrible. How could you do that to someone?"  
  
"Things were different in ancient Egypt Yugi. It was no fairy-tale world. Anyway, you need to get some sleep. Remember, tomorrow is your 18th birthday and the first day of Summer."  
  
"You're right, Yami. Good night...Again." Both of them chuckled at this but in truth, Yugi was still unerved. He didn't want to sleep for fear of repeating his earlier nightmare. However Yugi quickly became groggy and drifted off to sleep. Yami, however stood at the window of Yugi's room staring into the night.   
  
'I pray Yugi, that that dream was not an omen.' Yami thought, 'Ra help us if it was."  
  
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Yugi awoke the next morning feeling quite refreshed and rested. He quickly got up, got dressed, and headed downstairs.  
  
"Well, if it isn't he birthday boy!" Yugi's grandpa yelled as Yugi came down the stairs. "Up bright and early I see!"  
  
"Yep. I'm up and ready for presents." Yugi's grandpa sweat dropped.  
  
"We'll get to that later. Oh, I nearly forgot! Something came for you in the mail this morning." Yugi's grandpa handed Yugi a letter.  
  
"Really? HEY! Grandpa! Did you open my letter! This is my mail!" Yugi held up the letter which had been torn open.  
  
"I take offense to that! I would never do that! What kind of person do you think I am." Yugi just sighed and took the letter out of the ripped envelope.  
  
"Oh well. It's not like you've never opened my mail before." Yugi's grandpa eyed Yugi evilly and then left the room. "Grandpa is a funny man isn't he Yami?" Yami's form floated through the upstairs floor to stand next to Yugi.  
  
"Yes he is Yugi, yes he is. What does the letter say?"  
  
"It says: Dear Yugi Muto, This letter is an invitation that hereby invites you to participate in the Duel Monsters Tournament of the Millenium! This tournament is for elite duelists only and very few invitations have been sent out. Due to your excellent track records in tournaments, I have decided to make you the guest of honor. This Tournament will give you many new and interesting surprises. The tournament will be taking place in Cairo, Egypt in four days. Enclosed in this letter are two plane tickets and one free pack of speacial cards made specifically for this tournament. Enjoy your cards and I hope I will see you at the tournament soon. Best regards, Alazear Sleishen, New owner of Industrial Illusions."  
  
"Wow. He must be very rich to have bought out Industrial Illusions from Pegasus."  
  
"This is kind of strange Yami. He sent this letter knowing that I wouldn't turn down his invitation. Weird."  
  
"You are known as the King of Games."  
  
"Yah, I guess..."  
  
"Let's see what new cards you got in that pack."   
  
"Good idea!" Yugi reached for the pack and was about to open it when the phone rang.  
  
"Hello?" Yugi's grandpa said as he picked up the phone, "Yugi? Yes he's here, just a second. YYYUUUGGGIII!!!"  
  
"Jeese Grandpa! I'm right here!" Yugi went into the other room and ripped the phone out of his grandpa's hands. "Hello?" The voice on the end was sweet and kind.  
  
"Hey Yugi,"  
  
"Oh, Hey Tea."  
  
"Happy Birthday."  
  
"Thanks."  
  
"I can't believe you are 18 already. Oh, be careful. Joey is looking for you. He wants you to buy him some porn." Yugi and Tea both laughed but in his mind Yugi was thinking, 'Heh heh, porn...' "Anyway Yugi. You will never believe what happened to me! I got this letter today. It was an invitation to a Duel Monsters tournament in Egypt! Can you believe it?"  
  
"Uhhh..." Yugi through a quick look at Yami but Yami only sweat-dropped, "Um, that's great Tea."  
  
"I know it's fantastic. Can you believe it."  
  
"No," Yugi said honestly, "But the letter I got says that only elite duelists are invited and you knida suck..." Yami started to waves his arms frantically to stop Yugi from going on. Yugi's eyes widened with the shock of his last statement, "Uh you don't suck. I meant..." Yami slapped hs forehead and looked down at the floor.  
  
"I WHAT? I SUCK HUH? FINE SEE IF I EVER SUPPORT YOU AGAIN YOU LITTLE..." Obsenities came over the phone for a minute solid and then Tea hung up on the other line.  
  
"Smooth Yugi, real smooth." Yami said. "I think you better go pack for the trip. Your grandpa will probably have your presents ready for you by then." Yugi's sullen expression lighted up immediately.   
  
"PRESENTS!" Yugi quickly ran up stairs to pack.  
  
"Huh," Yami chuckled. "He doesn't seem very 18 to me."   
  
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Dave: Yah, I know there was a lot of talking in this chapter but I do promise a duel in the next chapter. 


	3. Lex Crusher

Ch. 3: Lex Crusher  
  
For Yugi, the time between his invitation and the day of the trip to Egypt seemed to fly by in seconds. Yugi's grandpa agreed to drive him to the airport and see him off. Yugi and his grandpa piled into the car and headed straight for the airport.  
  
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Tristan had just finished packing his things when his phone rang.  
  
"Oh, hey Tea. Yeah, I got an invitation too. Yugi said what? Oh don't worry about it, Yugi does stuff like that from time to time. Come to think of it though, you are a pretty sucky duelist..." Tristan quickly pulled the phone away from his ear as a flurry of words came through the phone. None of them were nice. Tristan quickly hung up. "Maybe I shouldn't have said anything. Oh well, she'll get over it." Tristan grabbed his stuff, climbed on his motorcycle, and headed to the airport.  
  
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"Yahhhh! I'm never gonna make it in time!" Joey yelled, "Now where are my lucky Bananas in Pajamas boxers?" Suddenly, Serenity burst into Joey's room.  
  
"Joey! We'll be late if you don't hurry up! If we miss the plane ride, neither of us will be in the tournament!"  
  
"Look Serenity, yellin' at me right now isn't helpin'! Where are those boxers?"  
  
"I don't want to miss out on my first chance at a real duel monsters tournament. I can see it now: Serenity, the Queen of Games!"  
  
"You mean the Queen of Gags," Joey said under his breath. "Ah, found'em!"  
  
"Good, now let's go." Serenity said sourly.  
  
"What happened to you? You use ta' be so nice and innocent. Now all you do is boss me around!"  
  
"JOEY!" Serenity smacked him on the back of the head, "We don't have time for that stuff right now. Let's GO!"  
  
"All right already. Sheesh."  
  
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Mai picked up her duffel bag and checked it again.  
  
"Let's see, food enough for me and a little extra just in case those knuckle-headed friends of mine forget their food again. Hmmm." Mai looked at her food and thought of the way Joey eats. "On second thought, better throw in a lot more food."  
  
Mai emptied her cupboard, stuffed everything in her huge duffel bag and headed straight for the airport.  
  
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Yugi's grandpa dropped Yugi off at almost the exact same time that Joey and Serenity arrived.  
  
"Hey, Yug!" Joey yelled, "Perfect timing."  
  
"Hey Joey! Uh, hey Serenity." Yugi said. Tristan arrived and got off his motorcycle.  
  
"Hi Yugi, guess what?" Yugi sweat-dropped, "I got invited to the tournament too!"  
  
"Gee, uh, that's great Serenity." Yugi looked over at Joey and Joey just shrugged his shoulders.  
  
"I know it's fantastic, Joey doesn't think so though."  
  
"No I think its cool and all Serenity, it's just that you're a beginner and this tournament is for the big boys like me." replied Joey. Serenity glared evilly at her big brother and smacked him in the back of the head again.  
  
"Joey! How can you be so insensitive! I think you're a great duelist, Serenity." Tristan said with a smile on his face.  
  
"Why you..." Joey said and tackled Tristan.  
  
While Joey and Tristan were wrestling on the ground, Tea arrived.  
  
"Hi guys!" she said cheerfully. Then she turned to Yugi and in a meaner, irritated voice said, "Hi Yugi, my you look sucky today."   
  
"Still mad about that, huh?" Yugi replied.  
  
"Gee, what was your first clue, Yugi?" Tristan and Joey stopped fighting and both of them got up off the ground.   
  
"Hey Tea, no need to hold a grudge..." Tristan didn't finish his sentence because Tea grabbed Tristan's ear and began dragging him off.  
  
"Don't hold a grudge?" Tea said evilly, "I'll show you a grudge..." Tea dragged him behind the nearest terminal and within a few seconds, Tristan began screaming for mercy. They both soon reappeared. Tea looked much more content while Tristan was limping and holding his red ear. Tea looked around and noticed that Serenity was there.  
  
"Oh, Serenity? You got invited too?"  
  
"Yep, I'm going to be the best female duelist in Egypt."  
  
"You mean that you'll be the best female duelist next to ME, in Egypt."  
  
"No, I meant that I will be the best."  
  
"Oh yeah? You think you could beat me in a duel, Serenity?"  
  
"You bet I could. Anywhere and anyplace." Joey sweat-dropped.  
  
"Hey, uh...sis? You meant anywhere and anytime right?"  
  
"Shut up, Joey."  
  
"You two can fight over who is going to be the best female duelist in Egypt but the answer is obvious that it will be me." Mai strolled up to the gang, looking cocky as ever.  
  
"Oh...That's right. Mai will be going..." Tea said softly, "But that means that I will be the 2nd best female duelist in Egypt."  
  
"What?" Serenity yelled, "No, I am going to be the 2nd best female duelist in Egypt."   
  
"Oh yeah?"  
  
Mai walked over to Joey and Yugi and smiled. "I hope those girls aren't fighting each other the entire trip." Yugi and Joey chuckled as the fight between Tea and Serenity continued. "What happened to your sister Joey? She used to be so sweet and...naive."  
  
"Yeah, tell me about it." Joey replied and rubbed his head where Serenity had hit him. "If I knew Mai, I would have done somethin' about it a long time ago and saved myself the trouble." Joey sighed.  
  
"Excuse me. You are Joey Wheeler, am I right?" A boy with spiky-blond hair and movie-star shades said as he walked up to the gang. Serenity suddenly stopped yelling while Tea continued to claim that she was a better duelist. Serenity took one look at the boy and began to swoon.  
  
"H,h,hot..." she said quietly. Tristan saw how she was acting and was immediately jealous.  
  
"Hi, my name's Lex Crusher. I'm the number one duelist from the United States."  
  
"Really?" Yugi said, "I thought that Rebecca was the national champ?"  
  
"Huh?" the boy turned and looked at Yugi, "Who might you be?" The entire gang fell flat on their faces. Tristan was the first to get up.  
  
"You recognize Joey but you don't recognize Yugi Muto? The undisputed world champ and King of Games?" Tristan asked.  
  
"Now that you mention it..." Lex replied, "Yeah, I see. Sorry Yugi Muto, I just thought that...well...you know...you were a bit...taller." Yugi fell flat on his face. "I beat out Rebecca for the national title this year. And yes, I recognized Joey Wheeler." Joey beamed with pride. "You see, Joey is well-known in the United States."  
  
"See, guys! I'm famous over there. It must be because of my extremely amazing dueling skills." Joey said and puffed out his chest.  
  
"Actually, you are well known because of your extremely amazing luck and horrible dueling skills. No one can figure out how a novice like you wins all the time." Joey fell flat on his face, again. The gang all chuckled.  
  
"What?" Joey said, "This is an outrage! I am a great duelist!" Lex Crusher laughed and took off his shades. Serenity began to blush and day-dream while Tea was still going on about how great of a duelist she was.  
  
"Want to prove it, Joey Wheeler?" Lex Crusher offered.  
  
"You got it. Let's duel right here and right now." Joey said angrily.  
  
"Wait, Joey," Yugi said, "You can duel him in the tournament. We are going to have to board the plane soon and..." But Yugi's comments fell on deaf ears and Joey pulled his duel disk from his bag. Lex Crusher did the same.   
  
"All right Mr. Wheeler, I'll duel you if you want to protect your honor. But we need to make this duel interesting. How about the winner of the duel gets to pick one card from the losers deck and keep it. Sound good to you?"  
  
"Joey," Yugi said, "You shouldn't..."  
  
"You got it, Crusher." Joey interrupted. Yugi looked down at the ground and sighed. Tea finally stopped talking and turned her attention to see what was going on between Joey and his new adversary.  
  
"All right then, let's duel." Lex Crusher said. Both players placed their decks into their duel disks, the holo-imagers activated, and the life point counters set to 4000. "Feel free to go first Wheeler."  
  
"Fine, I will." Joey drew his first six cards and looked at them. 'Not a bad starting hand if I do say so myself.' "I set two cards face-down and summon Tiny Wing Guard(1200/1500) in attack mode." A small masked fighter with a flowing cape appeared on the field.  
  
"My move," Crusher drew his first six cards and smiled. "What luck. I doubt that you drew as many good cards as I have in your first draw. First I play the magic card Flattery Token. Flattery Token allows me to create a 0/0 gold token and put it on your side of the field in defense mode."  
  
"Huh?" Joey said, "Why would you give me an extra monster?"  
  
"I'll show you why. I can now special summon the Fiend Mega-Cyber(2200/1400) in attack mode." A huge, golden robot with impressive armor appeared on the field.  
  
"What? You can't summon a level six monster without a sacrifice first."  
  
"Wrong Wheeler. I can special summon Fiend Mega-Cyber if you have two or more monsters than me on the field. And since it was special summoned, I can still normal summon a monster. I summon Giant Orc(2200/0) in attack mode. And now I'll have my monster attack your Tiny Wing Guard. Mega-Cyber, attack the Tiny Wing Guard with dark robotic energy. The giant robot charged up a huge blast and obliterated the small caped warrior. "You lose 1000 life points. I could attack your token but that will cause my Giant Orc to switch to defense mode so I'll end my turn by putting three cards face-down."  
  
"My move," Joey drew a card. 'Heh. This will rock his world.' "I play the magic card, Raigeki." A huge bolt of lightning flashed and blew both of Crusher's monsters into thousands of pieces.  
  
"What? How is that possible? You don't have a Raigeki..."  
  
"Obviously, I do. I got it during battle city when Marik messed with my deck. Now you are open for a direct attack. I now sacrifice the token you put on my side of the field to summon The Legendary Fisherman(1850/1200)." A Man with a spear appeared riding a huge, menacing, blue shark. 'I can risk attacking because I still have some good face-down traps.' Joey thought, "All right, Legendary Fisherman, attack Crusher's life points directly." The fisherman launched his spear directly at Lex Crusher.  
  
"Just the play I was hoping for. I activate my three face-down cards, Negate Attack and two Enchanted Javelins!"  
  
"That's bad news Joey!" Yugi yelled from the side.  
  
"Don't worry Yug, I got it taken care of." Joey replied. The fisherman's attack stopped and Crusher's life points went up by 3700 points. "Wha? Your life points went up."  
  
"Exactly Wheeler. Enchanted Javelin allows me to increase my life points by your attacking monster's attack points. When I activated both of them, I gained 3700 life points to give me a total of 7700 Life points. Your fisherman's attack was then stopped by my all powerful trap card, Negate Attack. So not only did you not damage my life points, but you gave me a huge lead in this duel."  
  
"Not exactly, your traps activate my trap card. Reveal face-down card, Reverse Trap."  
  
"What? Shit."  
  
"Reverse trap will subtract the value that you gained from your Enchanted Javelins from your life points instead of adding to them. So now you have 300 life points." Crusher stared at his life points in disbelief.  
  
"I'll admit I gave you less credit than I should have Wheeler, but I won't do it again." Lex Crusher drew his card. "I play Pot of Greed. This card allows me to draw two new cards." Lex Crusher drew his two cards. "Perfect, I play the Houdini's Cape magic card. This card allows me to draw enough cards to fill up my hand to five cards during my draw phases. I'll also play Dian Keto, the Cure Master. Dian Keto will increase my Life Points back up to my original 4000."  
  
"No way! No magic card can give you that much life!"  
  
"Hah, this card can. It refills my life points back up to the starting 4000 no matter how low my life points are."  
  
"That's a cheap card," Mai said to Yugi.  
  
"It only seems like that Mai. That card doesn't just help Lex Crusher. Watch." Yugi replied.  
  
"Unfortunately, using Dian Keto will also raise your life points back up to their original 4000 as well," Lex Crusher said, "To end my turn, I will summon Big Shield Gardna in defense mode(100/2600)." A large man appeared on the field almost completely covered by a shield.  
  
"Fine, I draw." Joey drew the card Hayabusa Knight. "Sweet! I summon Hayabusa Knight in attack mode." A small eagle dressed in armor and having two arms instead of wings appeared on the field. It held two mighty fencing swords. "I also activate the my face-down trap card, Undetected Attacker. This is an equip-trap card and I equip it to my Hayabusa Knight. To activate Undetected Attacker's effect, I have to flip a coin. If I call it right, I get to attack your life points directly with my Hayabusa Knight. But If I call it wrong, I lose life points equal to Hayabusa Knight's attack power. But before I flip my coin, I will increase Hayabusa Knights's power with Magical Sword. This card increases his attack to 1500. Now, coin flip, go." A holographic coin flew into the air and Joey called tails.  
  
"Finally, the part of the duel that you base on luck. Tell me Wheeler, how lucky do you feel today?" Lex Crusher crooned mockingly.  
  
"Oh, Joey. Still basing your duels on luck. Huh, dopey-kid. You'll never change." Mai said to herself under her breath. The coin came crashing to the earth and slowly spun around to finally reveal tails.   
  
"Oh well," Lex Crusher said, "It's only 1500 life points. You won't get that lucky later."  
  
"Oh it's more than 1500 life points you're gonna lose, Crusher" Joey yelled and wiped sweat from his brow, "Now, Hyabusa Knight attack his life points directly with your special double strike."  
  
"What? Double strike?" The bird knight flew past the Shield Gardna and stabbed Lex Crusher twice with it's holographic blades.  
  
"Now you are down to 1000 life points because Hyabusa Knight attacks twice per turn."  
  
"Grrr. I'll pay you back for that Wheeler. I draw four cards to replenish my hand thanks to Houdini's cape." he drew his four cards. "Hmmm. I put two cards face down and summon Richizu(1700/1800) in defense mode." A small lizard appeared on the field curled up in a defensive position. "Richizu's special ability allows me to destroy one monster on my opponents side of the field if I have less life points than that opponent. I choose to destroy the Legendary Fisherman." Richizu shot out a flaming blast from it's mouth towards Joey's fisherman. The blast engulfed the monster and shattered it into thousands of pieces.  
  
"No! My Legendary Fisherman! But wait, why didn't you destroy my Hayabusa Knight? If I call a coin toss correctly agian then I will win the duel."  
  
"True, quite true. However this card that I have face-down will win the duel for me if your toss fails. You are free to risk it, though. Heh heh, your turn."  
  
"I draw," Joey drew a card. 'Hmmm. This card won't help. And I don't want to try Undetected Attacker's effect because it may cost me too many life points...' Joey thought. "I end my turn."  
  
"How dissapointing. I was hoping to base the outcome of this duel on your infamous luck but no matter. First off my draw phase will activate one of my face-down cards, The Pain of Numbers. This trap card allows me to deal 1000 damage to your life points for every card I draw. And since I have Houdini's Cape on the field, I get to draw three cards and replenish my hand. Which means you will lose 3000 Life Points."  
  
"Wahhh! No way!"  
  
"Yes way. Now I will use Icazubu. This magic card allows me to gain 1000 life points for every monster I sacrifice. I choose to sacrifice Richizu. Now I have two thousand life points again. The lead is mine."  
  
"For now."  
  
"Not quite, Wheeler. This duel is over already."  
  
"What? What are you talkin' about?"  
  
"Use your head. Next turn, I will deal at least 1000 life points to you for the cards I draw because of my Houdini's Cape and Pain of Numbers combo. Which means you will lose. Unless you can somehow pull a miracle out of your hat. And I know you can't use that equip-trap card to beat me because I use this, Remove-Trap." The Undetected Attacker card dissapeared from the field. "You should have tried to beat me with that when you had the chance."  
  
"I haven't lost yet Crusher. I have one more turn to beat you. And I bet that that's all I'll need. Care to take my bet? I am awfully lucky..." Crusher looked a little unerved, but still tried to act confident.  
  
"Fat chance. But indulge yourself. I don't mind."  
  
'Aw man, he's right,' Joey thought, 'If I don't draw the card I need, I'm toast. Come on deck, don't fail me now..." Joey drew a card and stared at it blankly.   
  
"What's the matter Joey. Cat got your tongue?"  
  
"Heh, as a matter of fact, yes."  
  
"Huh?"  
  
"I now summon the monster that will win this duel for me. I summon Copycat and play it as the Fiend Mega-Cyber(2200/1400)." Lex Crusher began to laugh.  
  
"Hah. What a joke! That card is way too weak! It can't break through my defense monster, Big Shield Gardna. Hah, you are such an imbecile."  
  
"You can call me names all you want, but I've got you beat. Copycat attack Big Shield Gardna!" Lex Crusher continued to laugh as Copycat, in the form of the robotic fiend, attacked Big Shield Gardna and was reflected away.  
  
"Hah, a lot of good that did you! All you did was lower your life points by 400 points. Ah hah hah."  
  
"I did a bit more than that."  
  
"Huh?" Lex Crusher stopped laughing. "Okay Joey, I'll humor you. What else did you do?"  
  
"You see Crusher, while your Big Shield Gardna has a huge defense, he has an ability that makes him easy to destroy." Lex Crusher suddenly became rigid.  
  
"His ability...Oh shit."  
  
"That's right, when he gets attacked, he switches to attack mode."  
  
"What? But how did you know that?"  
  
"I've watched my pal Yugi duel with that card a lot. So it's thanks to him that I was able to beat you."  
  
"Ahh! No!" Big Shield Gardna stood up and moved it's shield to it's side.  
  
"Now that your is in attack mode, I can do 1400 life points damage by attacking him with Hayabusa Knight and do 1500 direct damage by attacking with Hayabusa Knight again. Not so confident any more, are ya'?" Joey looked at Lex Crusher who looked quite nervous and irritated.  
  
"Good Strategy, Wheeler. Attack whenever you want."  
  
"Okay, Hayabusa Knight, attack the Big Shield Gardna and then his life points!" The creature flew over to Big Shield Gardna and quickly decapitated the monster reducing Lex Crusher's life points to 500. Then it dashed toward Lex Crusher himself."  
  
"Brilliant play, Wheeler. You are much better than I thought. But I will not lose today. I activate my last face-down card, Attack and Receive. Since you attacked my life points, my trap card causes you to take 700 points of damage, which will wipe your 600 measly life points out as well." The Hayabusa Knight slashed Lex Crusher reducing his life points to zero while the trap card reduced Joey's life points to zero also.  
  
"Wha'?" Joey said, "A draw? Oh well. Coulda' been worse." All of the holograms disappeared and the two duelists walked to the center of the field to shake hands.  
  
"That was one hell of a duel Wheeler." Lex Crusher said as he shook Joey's hand, "You are a much better duelist than I gave you credit for being. I am sorry if I offended you."  
  
"Hey man, no harm done," Joey replied. The gang walked over to congratulate the two duelists but before they could say anything an announcement came over the airport intercom, "This is the last call, all passengers who intend to travel on special flight 886 to Cairo, Egypt must board the aircraft immediately. I repeat..."  
  
"Uh oh," Yugi said, "We better board the plane now." Everyone agreed. They all quickly headed for their terminal. Only Lex Crusher and Serenity stayed behind. Serenity was still in her swooning trance. Joey quickly noticed that Serenity was not with the group. He turned around and yelled to her:  
  
"Serenity! You're going to miss the plane. I thought you wanted to be the Queen of Gags, I mean..."  
  
"What did you say? Joey, I'm gonna..." Serenity stopped screaming at her brother and turned around to look at Lex Crusher. "You are coming too, right?"  
  
"Yes, but not on that plane."  
  
"Then how are you going to get to Egypt?"  
  
"I have my own private jet." Lex Crusher yelled back.  
  
"Ohh..." Serenity said softly. She gave Lex Crusher a wave and then turned and ran to catch up with the group. Crusher took his shades and placed them back on his face. 'Joey Wheeler...You and I will duel again soon. And next time, you won't be so lucky.' A somewhat wicked grin came to his face. "I can't wait for that day..." Lex turned around and sauntered off towards his private jet.  
  
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Dave: So how do you like Joey's new nemesis? Anyway, I really need people to send me some duelist Ideas. I always like to use duelists from other writers' stories. So tell me their names, what they look like, personality, etc. Either leave their info in a review or E-mail your ideas to: Cosmicspud@hotmail.com.  
  
I'll try my best to get another chapter up during Christmas break but no promises. Thanx. 


	4. Seto Kaiba and Sleishen

Ch.4: Seto Kaiba and Sleishen  
  
Seto Kaiba returned to his room after having a long, drawn-out board meeting. Upon his return he found Mokuba playing duel monsters on his computer.  
  
"What are you doing Mokuba?" Seto asked, "I thought you didn't like playing duel monster simulation games?"  
  
"I'm practicing, Seto." Mokuba replied.  
  
"Practicing for what?"  
  
"A duel monsters tournament of course."  
  
"You? In a tournament?" 'Someone must be really desperate for duelists if they invited Mokuba...' Seto thought. "Well enjoy your kiddie tournament then."  
  
"You got invited too."  
  
"Any tournament that wants you in it, isn't worthy of my attention."  
  
"Seto..."  
  
"What?" Kaiba snapped. Mokuba looked hurt, but Kaiba didn't apologize.  
  
"Nothing..."  
  
"I'm going out for awhile. Don't expect me back anytime soon."   
  
Kaiba left his room and headed for the elevator. He pushed the elevator call button and the elevator quickly reached his floor. It opened to reveal a decrepit, old man in a trenchcoat. "Who are you? What are you doing in my elevator?"  
  
"Ah, Seto Kaiba. Just the man I was looking for. Course, I knew where to find you. I asked at the front desk."  
  
"What? The front desk let you in. Wait until I get through with them..."  
  
"I never said they let me in. They just told me where to find you."  
  
"What?"  
  
"Heh. You and I need to have a little talk. Heh heh heh."  
  
"Forget it you old fool. Get the hell out of my way. I have things to do." Seto got into the elevator and shoved the guy out. The doors closed and Seto shook his head.  
  
"That wasn't very nice," Came a voice from behind him.  
  
"What the...?" Kaiba whirled around and to see the old man standing behind him. "How...?"  
  
"All will be explained in time. You know, you shouldn't be so hard on him."  
  
"Hard on who?"  
  
"Your little brother." Kaiba's expression of annoyance turned to anger.  
  
"You've been spying on me too? Who the hell are you?"  
  
"That doesn't matter. Don't you think it would be quite a shame if you never got a chance to apologize?"  
  
"What the hell are you talking about?"  
  
"Well, Seto Kaiba if you don't listen to me, your little brother will die." Kaiba's face began to contort with an emmence amount of hate.  
  
"If you touch him I'll..."  
  
"If you finish that sentence, he dies." Kaiba stopped dead. "Good. Your silence tells me that you understand. Now here are the rules: If you want Mokuba to live, then you will listen to every word I have to say and you will not speak unless I tell you to."  
  
"There's no proof that you can harm Mokuba you..."  
  
"I said no talking! That was your only warning. You're right, I don't have proof. But would you dare risk it?" The man reached into his pocket and pulled out a remote-controller with two red buttons on it. "Now, if I push one of these buttons, 300 pounds of high-powered explosives will blow the top of this building to kingdome come, taking Mokuba along with it. But don't worry, as long as you follow the rules, there won't be any reason for me to do anything rash." The man snickered and sank down to a squatting position in the corner of the elevator. "Press the button for parking floor two." Kaiba did as he was told. "I am here to see you Seto Kaiba because my master is curious about you. My master is the great Sleishen. I'm sure you have heard of him, being that you are a big fan of duel monsters and all." The man chuckled, "My master is curious about your skill. You see, he is having a tournament very soon, your little brother is invited in fact. As is Yugi Muto. We need your help Seto Kaiba. We need you to be the champion duelist for my master. But my master believes you have lost your skill and nerve from your crushing defeats at the hands of Yugi Muto." Kaiba shifted uneasily for a moment. "So, to see if you can still duel, I am here with a test. I have with me two decks of duel monster cards. We will both choose a deck and play against each other with them. If you win, you will recieve two gifts." The man reached into his pocket and pulled out two Items, the Millenium Rod and a duel monster card. "This powerful monster card is called Ido. It is extremely powerful and would be an asset to any deck. It is one of my masters favorites. You see when he took over Industrial Illusions, he created six powerful cards for himself. He has decided however, that these cards would be most effective in the decks of the five kings. You'll learn aout the five kings later. I know that Ido is a poor replacement for your old god card, but you will find him satisfactory none the less. And also, the Millenium Rod, the millenium item that destiny meant for you to have. But if you lose this duel, not only will your little brother die but you will perish as well." The man stood up and opened his coat to reveal over 30 sticks of dynamite attached to his body. The elevator finally stopped at parking floor two. The man reached into his pocket and pulled out two decks. "Choose your deck." Kaiba grabbed one of the decks and immediately started looking through it.  
  
'Not a bad deck,' Kaiba thought, 'Easily powerful enough to waste this old man.'  
  
"Now if you will look into the parking lot, you will see the field I have set up for us." Kaiba looked out the elevator door and saw two duel disks lying about thirty feet from each other. "You may speak during this duel, but afterward you must be silent again, if you aren't dead." Both Kaiba and the Old man left the elevator and put on their duel disks. They then shuffled their decks and placed them in the duel ports. "Let us begin, shall we. You may go first, Kaiba." Kaiba drew his first six cards.  
  
"I place one card face-down and summon Gagagigo(1850) in attack mode." A large, green, and human-like lizard appeared on the field. "I hope you know that you have no chance of beating me. I will not lose with Mokuba's life on the line."  
  
"I'm amazed that you care about him so much. You treat him like dirt. No, less than dirt."  
  
"Shut up. You don't know anything about me. Make your move."  
  
"As you wish." The man drew his first six cards. "Hmmm...First I play the magic card Cost Down. To activate it I have to discard a card." He put one card in his graveyard. "This magic card reduces the level of all the monsters in my hand by two levels. This allows me to summon level six monsters without a sacrifice. So now I summon the level six monster Ancient Feather Gill(1000/500)." A large fish with the head and wings of an eagle appeared on the field. "This monsters special ability allows me to reduce the attack of one of your monsters to zero. Then, I add those points to my monsters attack points. So now your Gagagigo has zero attack points and my Ancient Feather Gill has 2850 attack points. Now, Ancient Feather Gill, attack his weakened Monster, flash feather attack."  
  
"Heh. You old fool. I activate my face-down card. The trap known as Lighten the Load. This card reduces an attacking monster's attack points by 300 times that monster's level. So your level six monster loses 1800 attack points."  
  
"Big deal, Kaiba. It still has 1050 attack points. More than enough to whipe out your lizard."  
  
"Not quite. I then can increase my monsters attack by 300 points for each of it's levels. That gives my monster 1200 attack points making it stronger than your Ancient Feather Gill."  
  
"That is a powerful card." The Eagle-headed fish attacked Kaiba's Gagagigo but the Lizard simply threw a punch and shattered the beast.  
  
Kaiba:4000 Old Man: 3850  
  
"Unfortunately, this card is a permenent trap that works for both sides. However, next turn you won't have any monsters on the field, so its effect won't be activated."  
  
"Actually, that attack was only to get you to waste your trap card. My real move is this. I now activate Monster Reborn."  
  
"Why? To bring back that worthless Gill monster. What a waste of a magic card."  
  
"Actually, I was planning on reviving a different monster."  
  
"But you only have one in the graveyard. Unless the card you discarded from your hand was a monster!"  
  
"That's right Kaiba. I want to end this duel quickly. I'm sorry to say Kaiba but this duel was a lose-lose situation for you all along. You see, I know both decks by heart so there is no way I can lose. And knowing my deck well is the only reason that I can now summon my ultimate monster. Meet the second-most powerful monster in all of duel monsters. I revive the Gate Guardian(3750/3500)!" A huge beast appeared on the field.   
  
"Heh. It doesn't matter how strong your beast is. As long as I have my trap on the field it can't attack me without getting destroyed."  
  
"That is only the case for now Kaiba. Soon this duel will be over. With all the confidence you show it almost seems like you actually think you can win. Pathetic."  
  
"I'll show you who is pathetic." Kaiba drew his card and snickered. "How Ironic, I play the magic card Change of Heart!" Kaiba slammed the card into his duel disk with pleasure. "Now the Gate Guardian is mine! Hahaha!" The Gate Guardian was pulled by a magical force and was placed on Kaiba's side of the field. "Well it looks like you were right. This duel is going to end quickly." 'If I want to do any significant damage to that old fool's life points, I need to get rid of my trap card, and I have just the card in my hand to do it.' "I play Remove Trap to get rid of my Lighten the load trap card. Now my Gate Guardian can deal 3750 damage to you. Gate Guardian attack his life points with your ultimate might!" The Gate Guardian charged up it's energy and fired an immense blast of power at the old man. The blast hit him and knocked him sprawling backward.  
  
"Ow. What a way to mistreat an old man."  
  
"Now you have only 100 life points left." Kauba sneered. 'What a simple duel. Next turn I will finish this pathetic old man off and be done with him forever. Then I'll go after his boss. No one messes with the Kaiba family.'  
  
"Actually, Kaiba my life points are just fine."  
  
"Huh?"  
  
"You see, I discarded my Kuriboh from my hand. Kuriboh's special ability allows me to reduce the damage to my life points down to zero by discarding him to the graveyard."  
  
"You are only prolonging the inevitable old man. Next turn will be the end of you."  
  
"We'll just see about that." The old man drew his card. "Interesting. I play De-Fusion on your Gate Guardian."  
  
"What?"  
  
"This will make it split apart into Suigin, Kazegin, and Sanga of the Thunder." The Gate Guardian broke into it's three seperate pieces.   
  
"What good does that do you? It only makes my force stronger."  
  
"Seems that way. But now I play Soul Exchange."  
  
"No!"  
  
"This card allows me to Sacrifice Suigin and Sanga in order to summon my Barrel Dragon." A metallic dragon with a gun barrel as a head and two other gun barrels for hands appeared on the field as Suijin and Sanga dissapeared into thousands of shards of light. "This monster has 2600 attack points which is stronger than your pathetic Kazegin's 2400 attack points. However, my Barrel Dragon's special ability allows me to flip three coins. If two of the three coins are heads, then I can destroy your monster without attacking and hence attack your life points directly after it is gone. So now I flip my three coins." Three holographic coins flipped into the air but all three landed with tails face up. "No luck this time. Oh well. Barrel Dragon, attack his Kazegin, Neutron Blast!" The robotic dragon charged up it's cannons and fired immense streams of energy at Kazegin, shattering it into a million pieces. "You lose 200 life points."  
  
"I know. I can count."  
  
"Your move." Kaiba drew his card.  
  
"I place two cards face down and set one monster card in defense mode. Go."  
  
"Not much of a move. Barrel Dragon, let's try your special ability one more time." Again three holographic coins flipped into the air but this time two of the three landed on heads. "Perfect, Barrel Dragon, destroy his face down card." The beast jumped high into the air, landed on the face-down monster, and destroyed it. "Now Barrel Dragon, attack Kaiba's life points directly." The beast fired an enormous blast that hit Kaiba directly, greatly reducing his life points.  
  
Kaiba: 1200 Old Man: 3850  
  
"My move," Kaiba drew his card and his eyes widened in surprise, "I summon Bazoo the Soul Eater(1600) in attack mode. And that move ends my turn." The old man stared at Kaiba, pondering Kaiba's strange move.  
  
"No need to use my monster's special ability, I'll just attack your monster and nearly wipe-out your life points." The Barrel Dragon attacked Kaiba's monster and reduced Kaiba's life points to 200. "It looks like you really have lost your touch Seto Kaiba. What a pity."  
  
Kaiba: 200 Old Man: 3850  
  
"Actually, your attack has single-handedly won this duel for me."  
  
"How so?"  
  
"Watch and learn you old fool. First I play Sneak-Peek. This card allows me to look at the top card of my deck and either leave that card on top or place it at the bottom of my deck." Kaiba picked up his card and looked at it. "Well, a monster card. I thnk I'll leave it on top." The old man looked at Kaiba with a puzzled look on his face. Then suddenly he realized what Kaiba was planning.  
  
"Oh no..."  
  
"Next, I summon Queen's double(250/250). Then I activate my other face-down cards, Reversal Quiz. To activate this card I have to discard my hand, but since there are no cards in my hand, I have nothing to lose. This magic card allows me to make a guess. A guess at what type of card is at the top of my deck. If I guess correctly, I can exchange my present life points for yours. And I guess that the top card on my deck is a monster card." Kaiba lifted the card and showed it to the old man. "Would you look at that, a monster card. Now we switch life points."  
  
Kaiba: 3850 Old Man: 200  
  
"And finally," Kaiba said, "I will end this duel by having my Queen's Double bypass your monster and attack your life points directly. I told you not to mess with the Kaibas, fool. You Lose!" The Queen's Double jumped past the Barrel Darrel Dragon and swung her metal claw and lowered the old man's life points to zero.  
  
"Brilliant move, Seto Kaiba, utterly brilliant. I should have expected no less from you."  
  
"Silence you old fool..."  
  
"Ah ah ah. I told you that after the duel you could no longer speak. My master will be pleased. You are what he has been looking for after all. As promised, here are your prizes." The old man placed the duel monster card and millenium rod on the ground at his own feet. "I understand Kaiba, that you don't wish to be my master's champion but you will have no choice in the matter. And now, I bid you farewell." The old man stepped back into the shadows and was gone.  
  
Kaiba immediately turned and ran for the elevator. He punched the floor number for his personal floor and the elevator began to move. He soon reached the floor and ran straight for his room. He burst through the doors and yelled, "Mokuba!" but Mokuba was no longer at the computer. A small note was left in Mokuba's chair. Kaiba grabbed it and began to read.  
  
"Dear Mr.Kaiba,  
  
My servant, Bernard has just tested you and if you are reading this letter you must have been victorious. First, let me congratulate you on your fine upset of my servent. However amazing your defeat of my servent may have been however, you will need to be much better prepared if you are to be my champion. I understand that under normal circumstances your answer to my offer to make you champion would be no. But since I have your brother and can terminate his life at any time, I expect that you will accept my offer with great fervor. Do not be concerned with the details of this endeavor, all will be explained to you when you reach Cairo. Have a Pleasant Journey.  
  
Sleishen"  
  
Kaiba set down the letter and reached for the phone. "Grigsby, there are two items in the second level of the parking garage I need you to pick up for me. And Grigsby, get my private jet ready. We're going for a little ride."  
  
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Dave: Ohhhh, the plot thickens, dum dum duuummmm. Sorry it took so long to add another chappie but hey, how much time do you really have during Christmas break? 


End file.
